Different World
by SMbookworm
Summary: It began with a strange and frightening incident that ends with Jack Darby and his mother June missing. As the incident is investigated, new questions arise about Jack and his mother, such as who they are and why they left. As it turned out, the Darby family kept more secrets than anyone could've ever have guessed.
1. Chapter 1

_Chapter 1_

The day seemed normal enough. School, work, down time at Basse, nothing seemed out of the ordinary, maybe that was why it was so much of a shcok. The first shock hit Jackson Darby and his mother, June.

It was the middle of the night, Jack was already in bed and June was just getting home from a late shift at the hospital. On her way in, she noticed a plain white envelope amongst the junk mail on the table. There was no return address, so she tore it open. It wasn't a letter of any sort, it was a small note folded in half. Unfolding it, her eyes instatly widened at the first line. After reading the two short sentences of the message, her heart was pounding and she'd broken out in a cold sweat.

She bolted for Jack's room, dropping the note on the floor, where it read:

_Karen,_

_They found you._

_Get out now._

_-A. Holmes_

"Ryan get up! We've gotta go!" She shouted to her son's half-asleep figure from the doorway before bolting back to her own room.

Jack shot up at the sound of the name in his mother's frantic voice, quickly pulling on a pair of jeans and his running shoes before hastily grabbing his in-case-of-emergency gym bag & backpack out from the closet. he rushed out into the hallway, where his mom soon met him, also dressed in traveling clothes and towing a bulky backpack.

They quickly ran to the back of the house, where they yanked open a trap door in the hardwood floor. They promptly tossed their bags inside as soon as it was open wide enough before crawling in themselves, sealing the door shut behind them.

It was a good thing they did, because just ten minutes later, the whole house exploded.

**Please Comment & tell me if I should continue, I'm not sure right now if this story should be continued.**


	2. Chapter 2

_Chapter 2_

They watched the news coverage of the explosion with a mixture of shock, confusion, and above all, horror. The Autobot base was completely silent.

That was until Agent Fowler walked in.

"Good news, according to the report, Jack and his mother definetly _weren't_ in the house when the explosion went off."

"So they evacuated?" Arcee asked quizically.

"Yep, but it looks like they fled on foot, June's car was still in the garage." Agent Fowler replied.

"Still though, if they go outta there, then they saw the explosion coming." Bulkhead said.

"Most likely at the last minute." Ratchet said without looking away from the newsfeed. Turning back to the group, he added "but that raises a new question, if Jack and his mother got out before the explosion, why are they still missing?"

The base was silent again as everyone thought through the questioin. The silence seemed to growinto a presense of itself as everyone struggled to find an answer.

But the thick silence only lasted for a brief moment before something on Ratchet's monitor popped up and caught their attention.

Ratchet quickly and skillfully examined the alert.

"It's a cell phone signal." He said briskly. "Jack's" he added in a slightly awed tone as Jack's picture appeared on the monitor.

"why is Jack contacting base directly?" Arcee asked. "Why not just call me?"

This time Optimus spoke. "Ratchet, triangulate the signal's origin, so that we may investigate."

a few minutes later Arcee, Optimus, Bulkhead, Miko and Raf emerged from the Groundbridge portal and stepped into the flat and seemingly endless patch of Nevada desert.

Ratchet's voice came over their com-link "The location is only about four miles away from Jasper, but we lost the cell phone signal."

"Let me try calling him." Arcee suggested.

As she tried to do so, they heard the faint but familiar sound of Jack's ringtone. Only to find it coming from a small bush that had the leaf-less appearance of a tumbleweed.

Crouching down to the bush, Miko sighed and pulled out Jack's still-ringing cell phone with Raf at her side. "Well at least now we know why he called base."

"Wait what's that?" Raf asked, pointing to the back of the phone. Sure enough, taped to the back was a small piece of torn paper with a single word facing upward.

Ripping off the paper, Miko examined the single side and said "Arcee it's for you."

Kneeling down to the human's level, Arcee read the note in Miko outsrteached hand. Her features altered slightly into a mask of shock and confusion.

"Arcee" Optimus said. "What does it say?"

Arcee read the message aloud as she re-read it herself.

"_With Mom. _

_Safe for now._

_See you later._"


End file.
